HOW HOUDINI DID IT.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 283, 30 November 1931, Page 6

HOW HOUDINI DID IT.

Human nature loves to surround ( the obvious with mystery. It often prefers mystic explanations to practical ones. It nearly succeeded in making Houdini, that master of escapes and "handcuff king," a legendary figure. The late Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and others ascribed (supernatural powers to him and held that he was able to "dematerialise" himself and walk through walls. Houdini himself, however, always asserted that his methods were perfectly natural. "Houdini's Escapee," compiled from his own notes by Mr. W. B. Gibson, explains in detail how most of his tricks were contrived.

In handcuff escapes, said Houdini, "the primary lesson is to learn to use both hands with equal facility . . . one hand releases the other"—with the aid, be it added, of duplicate and master keys fitted with extension rods, of plates oi lead fastened underneath the trousers against which the cuffs could be struck, and other pretty gadgets of the kind. • When lie was being roped up he would so manipulate his limbs as to ensure a certain amount of "slack" which gave him just the inch or two of freedom he required to get to Avork. He could untie some knots witli his teeth and even his feet. He had sharp, hook-shaped knives concealed about him, sometimes a blade projecting from a belt hidden round his cJiest. Where he had to cut ropee to free himself he had duplicate ropes wound round him for use as substitutes, so that the challenger at the end would find the rope entire. Some of the cabinets in which he performed his escapes were ingeniously designed to conceal a confederate. Bars of tubing would conceal keys; a drop-knife would be concealed in a corner post; the leg of a chair would have a slot into which keys could be inserted to enable Houdini to unlock his cuffs without using his hands direct. The simplest-looking cabinet, in fact, was often a well-equipped workshop. The various boxes in which he was locked were such an ingenious assemblage of sliding panels, telescopic tops, or faked hinges, bolts, or rivets, that they might (almost) have been designed by Mr. Heath Robinson! His superb showmanship made the trick impressive. One of Houdini's most spectacular tricks was allowing himself to be buried in sand with a hood over his head. By drawing up his knees he made a space which gave him sufficient air for, say, thirty minutes, which was all he needed. Mr. Gibson reveals that Houdini formulated plans for being nailed in a packing case and thrown over Niagara Falls. "The nailing is done on a platform, into which I can slide after the box is nailed up." When one knows how it is done it all seems as simple ae any parlour trick; but one admires, none the less, the , * coolness and nerve of the performer, his mastery of technical detail, his dexterity. Often it meant exhausting work. Of one trick Houdini said in his notes: "This test is so hard that several times I have had barely enough strength to walk off the stage." —T.A.